all in one

Android-powered all-in-one PCs are all the rage... or at least that's what desktop manufacturers are hoping at CES. HP is the latest to enter this particular fray with the Slate21 Pro, an all-in-one design that runs any OS you want, as long as you want Android. The 21.5", 1080p IPS touchscreen hides a respectable NVIDIA Tegra 4 system underneath, with Android 4.3 and access to the Google Play Store.

This model is aimed squarely at businesses for a kiosk environment - think hotel business suites or elementary school computer labs.

Prepare for a week filled with new product announcements, Android newshounds. Acer isn't letting their rivals get the better of them at IFA in Berlin (or indeed at the pre-show events that are becoming standard). This morning the company announced no less than three new products: the Liquid S2, a 6-inch Android phone with 1080p video recording, the 10.1-inch Iconia A3 tablet, and the DA241HL, a 24-inch all-in-one desktop powered by Android 4.2.

Have you ever considered using Android as your desktop OS? According to CNET, Acer wants you to, as it plans to announce a new all-in-one PC that forgoes Microsoft's OS for Google's free offering. The Acer AIO is said to pack a fourth generation Intel Core i5 chip – which is based on the Haswell architecture – so the unit should be pretty powerful and snappy.

The real allure to this new offering, however, isn't what's under the hood – it's the price.

Today, Google brought it's A-game with a subscription service for Play Music. Now, you can pay a $9.99 monthly fee to get unlimited access to a library of music. It also comes with a new, updated Play Music app that doesn't look like complete garbage. There's also a host of features including the ability to turn any track into a radio station.

The one key way that this service distinguishes itself from other subscription services is that this includes all of your own personal music.

Hey, you got your Jellybean in my Windows 8! No, you got your Windows 8 in my Jellybean! The ASUS Transformer AiO probably isn't as tasty as Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but it will have a slimming effect... On your wallet. You may remember this odd tablet-meets-PC from our previous coverage. In short, it's an 18.4" Android tablet that also plugs into a base unit running Windows 8. The screen can be toggled between the Android and Windows 8 modes when docked, and it includes SplashTop Remote Desktop for connecting to the base unit while roaming freely.

Back at Computex 2012 last year, ASUS showed off an 18" Windows 8 all-in-one desktop that could turn into a gigantic Android tablet simply by sliding the display out of the dock. Questions aside about whether anyone needs or wants an 18" Android tablet, the tech was certainly neat. This isn't a dual-boot situation, but rather two completely concurrent OSes being run on two separate systems in the same device. The whole of the hardware carries an Intel processor and NVIDIA SoC.

We heard just recently that ViewSonic was launching a 22" tablet/display running Android. Today, we get a look at this display. We've also learned that it's running a dual-core TI-OMAP processor, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.0, and a 1920x1080 display underneath the gargantuan screen. The demo seems to be targeted at being used in a classroom setting, with plenty of child-friendly apps and videos, but that's just bundled software. The display, which starts at $479, could be used by any budget-conscious consumer that wants to try using Android instead of Windows as their primary OS for a shared family device.

Last week, ASUS released a couple of videos teasing its announcements for Computex 2012. Given the contents of the videos, our first guess was that the company would be announcing a dual-boot Windows 8/Android tablet. And we were right... kind of.

It is a dual OS device - but it's not exactly dual-boot, nor is it exactly a tablet. It's an all-in-one 18.4" desktop that can seamlessly transition between Windows 8 and Android 4.0.